New Delhi: After their loss against Delhi Capitals in an IPL 2023 match, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis said that a score of 185 was pretty good at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here but dew played a huge role and took their spinners out of the game.
Phil Salt’s blistering innings of 87 (45) coupled with quick-fire knocks from Mitchell Marsh (26 off 17) and Rilee Rossouw (35 not out off 22) powered the Delhi Capitals to a seven-wicket win after Virat Kohli (55 off 46) and Mahipal Lomror (54 not out off 29) fifties had lifted Royal Challengers Bangalore to a competitive 181/4 Saturday night.
“I felt it was pretty close, I thought 185 was a pretty good score. The dew took the spinners out of the game, but credit to them (DC batters) as well. You like your spinners in the game, but you need to bowl in the right areas despite the dew. A few bad balls and a few mistakes, we were short, but yeah, they really batted well,” Faf said in the post-match presentation.
The Proteas batter also mentioned that the batting unit didn’t maximise towards the end, where they could have easily scored 200 and put scoreboard pressure on the opposition team.
“We didn’t maximise towards the end. We felt like 185 was a par score, we needed one big over that could take us to 200, that would have made a difference. But that’s what happens when you apply pressure. Maxi (Maxwell) has been going well for us at 4. We thought we could have him early (at no.3 ) because he is going well,” he said.
Du Plessis also praised Lomror, who gave RCB the much-needed impetus during middle overs with his six fours and three sixes.
“I was really pleased to see Lomror at 5 and he played really well, still really a good positive for him. That’s the nature of the slow pitch, you always try to come in the first six overs and try to get on top of the game,” he said.
IANS
